About The Writers

Monday, July 23, 2012

The Random Name Game

Post by Jenny

My favorite
(non-alcoholic) drink this hot, hot summer is half lemonade, half iced tea. You
may know it as an Arnold Palmer. I refuse to call it that, because for some
reason, the name is difficult for me to enunciate. I have to stop and think
about it to make sure it comes out right, and even then I feel like I have a
cherry pit rolling around on my tongue. And no offense to the famous golfer in question, but not even James
Bond would sound cool ordering an Arnold Palmer, even if he followed it up with
“shaken, not stirred.” Or in my case, slurred.

Names in general can be
vexing—remembering them, spelling them, pronouncing them, and giving them to
our characters. If we all wrote like Dickens, we could get away with Canon
Crisparkle and Polly Toodle. Dickens aside, some of fiction’s best character
names—Jay Gatsby, Scarlett O’Hara, Atticus Finch, Clarissa Dalloway—are unique
but not outrageous. And they’re pronounceable. (Sorry, Holden Caulfield, you
don’t make my list. It’s another cherry pit thing.)

The telephone book
(remember those things?) used to be my go-to in the hunt for character names. It’s
amazing how many people out in the world have interesting names. Baby name
lists identify trends, which may lead to names you want to use or want to
avoid. If lists in general are too tedious, how about a random name generator? (For your characters, not your kids.) I played
around with one the other day, and here are some of the suggestions it gave me:

I kept at it for a while,
as it was kind of addictive, and came up with a good dozen names I wouldn’t
turn down. The rest didn’t make the cut, but even I have to admit that the
random name generator beats the phone book any day. Whatever character name you
choose, you might want to run it by friends or a critique group to make sure
they can get their mouths around it.

I've ever heard of the random name generator either! Sounds neat. It will work for naming characters, unless they have a specific heritage, such as Greek or Spanish or something that requires them to have that type of name.

Like the Palmer...maybe we could call it that, 'cuz like you, I don't do the whole name easily either...kind of like trying to stumble through "Will Rogers Airport" with a sky full of planes...never comes out right.

Or maybe at the bar just say:

"Gimme an Arnie" and see what you end up with.

Thanks for the name generator. So then I ask, does the name fit the character I think I see, or does the name create the characters traits?